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In Christ, Mark
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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.
Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, "In my dream I was standing on the bank of the Nile, when out of the river there came up seven cows, fat and sleek, and they grazed among the reeds. After them, seven other cows came up—scrawny and very ugly and lean. I had never seen such ugly cows in all the land of Egypt. The lean, ugly cows ate up the seven fat cows that came up first. But even after they ate them, no one could tell that they had done so; they looked just as ugly as before. Then I woke up.”
"In my dreams I also saw seven heads of grain, full and good, growing on a single stalk. After them, seven other heads sprouted—withered and thin and scorched by the east wind. The thin heads of grain swallowed up the seven good heads. I told this to the magicians, but none could explain it to me."
Then Joseph said to Pharaoh, "The dreams of Pharaoh are one and the same. God has revealed to Pharaoh what he is about to do. The seven good cows are seven years, and the seven good heads of grain are seven years; it is one and the same dream. The seven lean, ugly cows that came up afterward are seven years, and so are the seven worthless heads of grain scorched by the east wind: They are seven years of famine."
“It is just as I said to Pharaoh: God has shown Pharaoh what he is about to do. Seven years of great abundance are coming throughout the land of Egypt, but seven years of famine will follow them. Then all the abundance in Egypt will be forgotten, and the famine will ravage the land. The abundance in the land will not be remembered, because the famine that follows it will be so severe. The reason the dream was given to Pharaoh in two forms is that the matter has been firmly decided by God, and God will do it soon."
“And now let Pharaoh look for a discerning and wise man and put him in charge of the land of Egypt. Let Pharaoh appoint commissioners over the land to take a fifth of the harvest of Egypt during the seven years of abundance. They should collect all the food of these good years that are coming and store up the grain under the authority of Pharaoh, to be kept in the cities for food. This food should be held in reserve for the country, to be used during the seven years of famine that will come upon Egypt, so that the country may not be ruined by the famine."
The plan seemed good to Pharaoh and to all his officials. So Pharaoh asked them, "Can we find anyone like this man, one in whom is the spirit of God?"
Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, "Since God has made all this known to you, there is no one so discerning and wise as you. You shall be in charge of my palace, and all my people are to submit to your orders. Only with respect to the throne will I be greater than you."
Genesis 41:17-40
This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.
In the first 16 verses of Genesis, chapter 41, we find Pharaoh, the ruler of Egypt, having two troubling dreams that none of his magicians or visionaries could interpret. To the rescue was Pharaoh’s cupbearer who remembered how a man correctly interpreted his dream while in prison two years earlier. And so Pharaoh summons the man, Joseph, from prison and asks him to interpret his dream to which he is told that God would give him the answer he desired. You’ll recall that Joseph wanted Egypt’s powerful ruler to know that he wouldn’t accept any of the credit for the interpretation.
And so accepting this proposal from Joseph, Pharaoh proceeds to tell Joseph all about what he experienced in his dreams and while Egypt’s leader believed the dreams were distinct, we find Joseph letting him know that they were really "one and the same", adding:
"God has revealed to Pharaoh what he is about to do."
Friends, this is an awesome testimony given by Joseph to Pharaoh for the only true God, the God who was superior to any false god that the Egyptians worshiped was about to do everything that Joseph was about to say next.
Needless to say, he had the ruler’s attention.
And so Joseph goes on to interpret the dreams, telling Pharaoh that there would be seven years of abundance in Egypt followed by seven years of famine. Given this, the very survival of Egypt would rely on Pharaoh doing just as God commanded, stockpiling one fifth of the grain in every year of abundance to ensure there would be food during the famine years.
This effort would need strict oversight and we read where Joseph tells Pharaoh to "look for a discerning and wise man and put him in charge of the land of Egypt." He was to also "appoint commissioners over the land to take a fifth of the harvest of Egypt during the seven years of abundance." After this, the scriptures tell us that Egypt’s leader has no questions on what needs to be done as they found no reason to doubt what God had said through Joseph. The "plan seemed good to Pharaoh and his officials."
So with the plan accepted, the only thing left was the matter of "appointing a discerning, wise man" to take "charge of the land of Egypt” and to Pharaoh, the selection seemed like a no-brainer. For we find him proclaiming the following:
"Can we find anyone like this man, one in whom is the spirit of God?"
And with no objection raised by anyone, we find Pharaoh elevate Joseph, who had just emerged from prison, to a place of power where he would take charge of the palace with all people ordered to submit to his orders.
Indeed, only Pharaoh himself would be greater than Joseph and this incredible conclusion to this chapter offers us several awesome points to ponder:
1. God showed mercy toward Egypt.
Although we’ll find later that Egypt will fall from God’s favor when a new leader takes the reins, here we see that God doesn’t wish for the Egyptians to perish. His instructions to Pharaoh, if carried out as directed, would ensure the Egyptian people would not die during the famine. Those directions would also pave the way for Joseph to be reunited with his family as we will see later but for now, God’s saving actions toward a polytheistic nation are an early Old Testament revelation of His amazing grace.
2. Pharaoh’s accepted both the dream interpretation and the suggested plan of action.
We need to keep in mind that Pharaoh could have rejected the revelation from God regarding his dreams but he didn’t. And by accepting and not rejecting all that God said through Joseph, Pharaoh was acknowledging two important things:
First, that the plan was from indeed from God, and second, that God would do what He said He would do.
This is an incredible stance from someone who wasn’t a God follower to begin with and one we shouldn’t take from granted as we read this story.
3. God delivers those who remain faithful to Him.
Fresh out of the prison dungeon, God led Joseph to be designated as the most discerning, wise man in Egypt with all the people commanded to submit to him. It was nothing short of an improbable elevation to power but it reminds us that with God nothing is ever impossible.
Before I close, there is one other important point to consider from this scripture. For in the account, we find Joseph using the gift of dream interpretation given to him by God so to carry out his Lord’s will. As a result, he won the confidence of an ungodly Egyptian ruler and experienced the blessing of deliverance.
This applies to us because our God has given us all gifts as He did Joseph and expects us to use those gifts to carry out His purposes so that He ultimately will be glorified and honored. And when we consider that our chief calling as Christians is to make disciples of all nations (Matthew 28:18-20), then we can see where we find communion with Joseph who God used to change the heart of the ungodly and turn them toward Him.
My hope and prayer is that we’ll do just that, and in the process, find others speaking of us as Pharaoh did of Joseph when he declared:
“Can we find anyone like this man, one in whom is the spirit of God?"
Amen.
In Christ,
Mark
PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it. Send any prayer requests to TheChristianWalkPrayers@gmail.com.
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